


Tentative Forgiveness

by Kitsune_Robyn



Series: Mina 10 [7]
Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Trans, Gen, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, trans author, trans!ben
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:13:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24273367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitsune_Robyn/pseuds/Kitsune_Robyn
Summary: Part 3 of the Acceptance ArcMina meets up with her mother
Relationships: Ben Tennyson & Sandra Tennyson
Series: Mina 10 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/976863
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

Mina was relaxing and eating dinner in the Rustbucket with Max and Gwen after a long day of training Mina's transformations. “Thanks again for helping me Gwen.” Mina said between bites of one of Max’s odd dishes that she didn’t find half-bad (she learned to like Max’s cooking better after moving in with him). “I think I have Spidermonkey’s acrobatics down now.”

Gwen finished the food she had in her mouth before answering. “It’s really no problem Mina, I’m just glad you’re taking this more serious now.”

Mina nodded and sighed. “Well, my childish, unjustified, and often false, bravado no longer had a purpose.” She said. “I feel better about myself now, and with that out of the way, I lost the biggest reason for why I was keeping it up”

“That’s a mature observation Mina.” Max Said with a smile.

She smiled. Her cell starts ringing before she can respond verbally, and as she looks at the caller ID, she frowns. “Here Grandpa, you take it, I can’t talk to her like this…” She handed her phone to Max and rushed off to the bathroom in the back of the RV, tears in her eyes.

Max looked down at the phone and saw that the caller ID read “Mom”. He sighed and answered it. “Hello Sandra.” Gwen silently excused herself outside when she heard this.

“Oh, hello Dad, where’s Ben? I need to talk with hi- I mean her.”

“She’s in the bathroom, she had tears in her eyes." He said, with barely contained anger. "It’s been 2 months Sandra, Mina’s not over what Carl did to her, and you not calling at all did not help."

“Yeah… I’m sorry for that…” She sighed. “I… I left him Dad, it took a while to decide, and I didn’t want to get her hopes up, nor did I want Carl to find out I was in contact with her… You know how he can be…”

Max sighed. “Yeah… I didn’t want to believe he was still like that, but after seeing what he did to Mina…” He sighed again.

The bathroom door opened with Mina coming out in her amab (assigned male at birth) form, tears streaking down her cheeks. “I-I can take it now grandpa…”

He nodded, a little shocked before understanding flooded his face. “Sandra, she’s ready to talk.” He handed the phone to Mina.

“H-hello mom.” She said in a forced feminine tone.

“Hi sweetie… I’m sorry for not calling before this. Your father did the bills and I didn’t want him pulling our phone records and seeing your number…” Sandra sighed. “I left him honey, it took a while to decide, but I left him. I’m living with Aunt Kim right now.”

Mina’s eyes widened. “You left dad?” She asked in shock. “I-I’m sorry mom… You shouldn’t have to choose between him and me…”

“No I shouldn’t…” Sandra replied with a sigh. “But to be honest, I’m tired of his bigoted views, and do not agree with them. He forced my hand by kicking you out without talking to me first and then forbidding me from calling you. That was the last straw.”

Mina was stunned. “Wow mum… I mean I hoped, but I never thought you’d have these problems with him too… And after not hearing from you after he kicked me out…” She sniffed.

“Be- Mina... “ She sighed. “I’m sorry, the name thing is gonna take a while…”

Mina smiled a bit. “That’s fine Mom, as long as you’re trying.”

“Thank you Mina… Anyway, how did you know about your father’s prejudices? I made sure to try to prevent him from using derogatory words and actions while you were growing up.”

"Uh... Dad always said that stuff when you weren't around..." Mina said, truth in the statement, but not all of it.

"That's not the only thing, is it?" Sandra asked, seeing through her half truth.

Mina sighed, annoyed at her slip-up. She debated out right lying for a moment, but her mother always knew when she was lying. So she decided to come clean, but not over the phone. “I-I can’t tell you that over the phone…” She looked over to Max and mouthed ‘Does she know about you?’

Max sighed and nodded.

“What do you mean?” Sandra asked in a worried tone.

Mina sighed again. “Can we meet here at the Rustbucket at 3 tomorrow? I can explain then…”

“Sure honey.” She replied. “But don’t hold out on me.” She said sternly. “If it is what I think it is, I wanna know how you found out.”

“Okay Mom… I was going to anyway… I’ll see ya tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.” She replied before Mina hung up. She slumped down on the table, defeat creeping in. She had hoped to keep her secret, but now that she’s slipped up, she had no real choice.

Max sat beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to do this you know.”

“No Grandpa… She put me on the spot and I messed up... And she always asked about the Omnitrix anyway... I’m sure she knows it’s alien, and now that she knows I know your secret… I can’t lie to her to save my life, she knows every time I lie, half-truths are like 50/50 as well… Just like right then...” She sighed. “She is gonna put 2 and 2 together if I don’t explain the function of my watch now, with how the Omnitrix looks when I’m in alien form…”

Max nodded. “Yeah, she is an observant one…” He sighed.

Mina nodded and then looked down at her watch. “Let’s just hope she takes it well…” She sighed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mina talks to her mother

Sandra’s PoV

Sandra pulled up next to the Rustbucket the next day around 2:30pm. She sighed and tried to calm her nerves. ‘You can’t mess this up Sandra… This may be your only shot at forgiveness.’ She thought as she turned off the car and looked at the RV beside her. She looked in the window and was a little shocked at what she saw. “Th-that can’t be her… Can it?” She asked herself, seeing a teenage girl with long brown hair in the window. She opened the door and got out, closing it behind her. The girl heard the door shut, looked over and Sandra saw her emerald green eyes, eyes which were full of fear before she bolted to the back of the RV.

She just stared at the window, confused and in shock at seeing the girl. After a minute, she got over the shock enough to walk to the door and knocked.

It took a couple seconds for Max to open the door. “Hello Sandra.” He said with a small, hopeful smile. “You’re early.”

“Yeah… I got off work at my new job early, and decided to get here and sit in the car to psych myself up.” She admitted sheepishly.

Max nodded. “Well, come on in.” He said, stepping out of the way. “Mina’s in the bathroom, she’ll be out soon.”

She entered the RV and went to sit at the table. “Good, I wanted to talk to you a little first.” She sat facing the back of the RV. “Does h- she know about your former job?”

Max sat across from her and sighed. “Yes.” He said.

“How?” Sandra asked, a touch of worry in her tone.

“I think that’s something she should tell you.” Max said.

Sandra sighed and nodded. “Fair enough…”

A stern look formed on Max’s face. “She has a lot to tell you. So please keep an open mind.”

She nervously chuckled and nodded. “I’ll try to.”

He nodded. “That’s all I can ask.”

\---

Mina’s PoV (5 minutes earlier)

Mina was drumming her fingers against the table. She was still in her cis form, procrastinating on changing to her amab form, if she was totally honest. She just stared at the clock on the radio in the dash, nervous about what was to come in a half hour, when she heard a car door close.

In panic, she looked outside quickly, to see her mother there early, staring at her through the window.

Mina, now panicking, ran into the bathroom and closed the door quickly. ‘Shit… Shit! Mom saw me!’ She thought. ‘Fuck! I was gonna keep this part a secret, but now…’ She sighed and took a deep breath. ‘Calm down Mina, it’s probably better this way. Hell, you can greet her like this now, and not have to worry about changing into him at all.’ She coached herself.

But as she thought about that idea, the nerves came back full force. What ifs came flying through her mind. Thoughts like and including ‘What if she doesn’t believe it’s me?’ and ‘What if she freaks out on Grandpa or I?’ ran through her mind.

After a minute, she took another deep breath to ground herself, and tried to think logically. ‘She already saw me, and there are no other exits to the Rustbucket... And if she reacts badly, Grandpa is there… And she is going to find out anyway... Yeah let’s do this.’

She opened the bathroom door and slowly walked out, a nervous smile on her face.

“Hi Mom.”

\---

Sandra’s PoV

“Hi Mom.”

At that Sandra looked away from Max and saw Mina. Her eyes widened seeing the girl from before. Max turned around, a little shocked himself.

“B-Ben… I mean Mina…” She quickly corrected, “Is that really you?”

The girl looked nervous, but was still smiling. “Yeah Mom, it’s me.” She sat across from Sandra, next to Max.

“How is this possible?” Sandra asked.

“Well, for that… I’ll have to explain a few things first.” Mina replied, nerves obvious in her voice. “Please promise not to freak out when I tell you...”

Sandra raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “It all has to do with that watch, doesn’t it?”

Mina nodded. “For the most part, yes. How do I put this… Do you know all those alien heroes you’ve seen around the country in the last few years?”

“Don’t tell me…” Sandra’s eyes widened.

“Yeah… Most of them are me.”

“Mina…” Sandra started in a stern tone but was interrupted.

“You said you wouldn’t freak out Sandra.” Max said.

“How am I supposed to not freak out Dad?” She asked in a raised tone. “My only so-” She caught herself when she saw Mina flinch. “My only daughter is putting herself into unneeded danger!”

Mina, nerves and emotions high, snapped. “Unneeded? Mom, I never asked for this thing!” Mina pointed to the Omnitrix. “I found it by accident, the first night of summer break when I was 10. It bonded with my DNA and I can’t take it off! That same night, an alien warlord sent a giant robot to find it and kill anyone nearby.” Sandra was about to say something, but Mina continued. “He would have killed me for this Mom, and even if I gave it to him freely, he would have for fun! Then probably either conquered or destroyed Earth. I barely stopped the robot, with surprisingly no casualties. During the fight, I saved Gwen’s life. That is what set me on the hero’s path. A path I chose freely. But putting criminals behind bars, and whatever else you saw on TV is the least of it. To quote a famous comic: ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ I had, and have, power, whether I wanted it or not. I’ve been part of stopping that same warlord from coming after Earth, as well as stopping invasions and other alien related matters. Stuff next to no one else could hope to do, since the Plumbers were not active here and aliens existing is not common knowledge. And that’s not even the threats from Earth, like Dr. Animo or the Forever Knights!” She flinched again when she said that name. “How can I not put myself in danger to protect people from that stuff when no one else can? So what if I choose to stop criminals or save people from burning buildings between the big threats? I have the power to help.” She sighed, running out of steam. Max put a hand on her shoulder in support. She took a deep breath. “Now, may I continue?”

Sandra sat there shocked by the outburst. After she recovered, Sandra looked ready to say something, but just sighed. “I… I guess you’re right… Go ahead.”

“As you can probably guess, this,” She pointed to the Omnitrix. “Is what lets me transform into other sapient beings. It’s called the Omnitrix, it’s the most advanced piece of technology in the known universe, and unfortunately, can be seen as the greatest weapon of said universe as well.” She explained. “Supposedly there are over a million species’ DNA it has access to, but I only have access to around 70. The creator, Azmuth, created this so someone could walk a mile in the shoes of another species, to understand them better. But as I said, it is also seen as a weapon because you get the powers of the species, along with being able to blend into crowds on other worlds and/or hide your identity… I even thought of it as a weapon at first…” She sighed. “Anyway, I met Azmuth that summer, and for the sake of not making this explanation longer, I convinced him there was still good in the universe and he let me keep the Omnitrix. Two months ago, literally the day Dad kicked me out, Azmuth came to Earth to fix it. During that visit, he, knowing about me from Grandpa, gave me a way to change between my old body and this one. That’s how I can look like this.” She finished.

Sandra nodded. She felt a little hurt that an alien of all things knew about her daughter before she did, but she understood it, with how Carl was. “Okay… That explains a lot. But, how did you find out about your Grandpa being a Plumber?”

“Oh… Well you know that warlord from my rant?” Mina asked, and Sandra nodded. “Well, turns out he was one of the aliens Grandpa Max had to deal with, multiple times, back then…” She said sheepishly.

“And I had to come out of retirement to help take him down the first time he himself showed up.” Max finished.

“So… Anything else you want to know?” Mina asked.

Sandra shook her head. “No, you explained enough. And while I’m not happy that you’re doing this hero work, I’ll.support you, whatever you do.” She smiled at her daughter.

Mina smiled back. “Thank you Mom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm SO sorry this took so long to get out. It's been tough, trying to get back into writing, a lot of times I couldn't get into it or I have serious writer's block. So yeah... But I got it done

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for this taking over a year and a half... Just burnt myself out from writing too many things at once... Hopefully I learned my lesson and I'll have more fics up soon


End file.
